Cannot Enable "Use your Apple Watch to unlock apps and your Mac"

Question

Cannot Enable "Use your Apple Watch to unlock apps and your Mac"

Due to some rather uninteresting circumstances, I recently had to reset my Apple Watch and restore it to a backup. Since, I have been attempting to enable my Mac's "Auto Unlock" feature where my Apple Watch will unlock it or allow me to authenticate.

Each and every time I click the empty checkbox (located in System Preferences > Security & Privacy) to enable, I get the loading indicator and a "turning on" message, eventually followed by this:

My Mac supports the feature

Both the Watch and Mac are up to date on the software side

Apple Watch has a passcode

Mac has a passcode

The Watch is on my wrist and unlocked

Both devices have bluetooth and WiFi turned on

I have two-factor authentication enabled on my Apple ID and both devices are signed in to the same account

I have no idea why this isn't working.

Suggestions?

MacBook Pro 15”, macOS 10.15

Posted on Nov 6, 2020 4:54 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

BobHarris

Level 9

53,213 points

Nov 6, 2020 4:56 PM in response to Lon3lyWanderer

Update to watchOS 7.1, as it has a fix for unlocking Macs

If that does not work, it should, but if it does not work, then read the following threads

Check out this thread on fixing Apple Watch unlocking Mac

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251803595?answerId=253458029022#253458029022

Then follow with this thread

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251826134?answerId=253504359022#253504359022

And

I also found that it took awhile for the iCloud Keychain records to propagate and merge on all the systems. More so when you have multiple devices sharing the keychain (I have 4 Macs, the iPhone, and the Apple Watch). I followed both of the above threads, but it was not reliably working until the next day, when I tried again. And I did have to click the enable check box twice the next day, but then it stuck.

And this thread says they also had to toggle the Apple Watch -> Settings -> Siri -> Listen for "Hey Siri" option off then on

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251803595?answerId=253782332022#253782332022

Hints (you will understand when you read the first and second threads):

Applications -> Utilities -> Keychain Access

Finder -> Go menu -> ~/Library/Sharing/AutoUnlock

System Preferences -> iCloud -> Keychain

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Answer 2

Nov 6, 2020 5:57 PM in response to BobHarris

Thank you for the reply.

I did not realize watchOS 7.1 was out, so I updated. That did not fix the issue, so I followed the links as per your recommendation.

I have now gotten the checkbox to stick in the "checked" state, however my Mac still fails to unlock using my Watch. I will give it some time and see if it starts working. If not, I will post an update here.

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Answer 3

Nov 6, 2020 7:26 PM in response to Lon3lyWanderer

It just started working normally, thanks!

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Cannot Enable "Use your Apple Watch to unlock apps and your Mac"

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